


A Candlenights Treat for Angus

by dozmuffinxc



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Candlenights, Fluff, Gen, cookie baking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:42:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22244281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dozmuffinxc/pseuds/dozmuffinxc
Summary: Just a little Ango-centric, holiday-themed fluff written for the TAZ Candlenight Exchange (@thecandlenightszone on Tumblr)!
Relationships: Angus McDonald & Taako
Comments: 5
Kudos: 63





	A Candlenights Treat for Angus

Dinner time on the Bureau base was always a production. It wasn’t strictly necessary to eat in the cantina (you could, technically, grab your food and take it back to your rooms), but between the stress of their jobs and the fact that there was very little free time in any of the Bureau employees’ schedules outside of meals, dinner ended up being a crowded, noisy, boisterous affair. 

Angus doesn’t usually like noisy places, and crowds make him anxious, which is why Taako is surprised to see him perched on the edge of a stool that’s about a foot too tall for him, hunched over his chicken with a frown on his face as he chases roast potatoes around his plate with the tines of his fork.

“Why the frown, Clown?” Taako asks, sliding into the seat next to the boy detective. “What’s with the long face, kiddo?”

“Oh, hello, sir!” Angus grins, but the smile doesn’t quite make it to his eyes, and Taako isn’t fooled. “I’m OK. Just tired, I guess.”

“That’s bullshit, little dude,” Taako says, poking Angus in the nose with a chrome-painted fingernail. “I’m the king of faking a good mood, and I hereby decree that you’re down in the dumps. Why don’t you tell ol ‘Taako what’s got your goat?”

Angus blushes a deep shade of pink and attempts to hide his embarrassment by ducking his head and taking a moment to clean his glasses. When he can’t possibly justify polishing the already-shining lenses any more, he glances up shyly to see Taako, head in one hand, waiting patiently for a response. If Angus didn’t know any better, he would say that Taako was genuinely concerned about him; he would never admit it, of course, but…

“It’s just… it’s almost Candlenights, and there aren’t even any decorations up here on the base. Not even a Candlenights bush! I guess I’m just missing the celebrations. I know we’re doing important work,” he adds quickly, “but… it would be nice to have some Candlenights cookies. Is that silly?”

Taako blinks down at the boy who is suddenly staring up at him, desperate for validation, and clears his throat.

“To be honest, Ango, I’ve never really celebrated Candlenights. I was always on the road as a kid, and it wasn’t really a priority. No money for gifts or whatever. We used to make cookies, though. I remember liking that a lot.”

“You did?” Angus asks, his eyes bright behind his glasses. “Who did you make them with? Mr. Magnus and Mr. Merle?”

Taako laughs.

“Naw, they weren’t around when I was a kid. I made them with---”

Suddenly, Taako feels a weight in his stomach that wasn’t there a second ago, and there’s a metallic taste in the back of his mouth like he’s about to throw up. He breathes through his nose and smothers the urge to run out of the cantina as he tries to focus on the face of the person next to him in his memory, the one holding the tray of Candlenights cookies while Taako balances the bag of icing in one hand, sprinkles in the other.

“---myself, I guess,” he finishes, and the static immediately fades away.

“Listen,” Taako says after a few minutes’ awkward silence, “if it means that much to you, meet me back here tonight. Say, midnight? That is, if you can stay up that late. What are you, like, five-years-old?”

“I’m eleven, sir!” Angus retorts, but he’s smiling. “What are we going to do?”

“Always with the questions,” Taako sighs, already heading back to the table he’s sharing with Magnus and Merle. “Don’t be late!”

*************

Angus arrives at the cantina at exactly midnight. It’s dark and silent, and for one awful moment, he’s certain that this has been a prank and he’s been ditched. But then he notices a light at the back of the hall, a warm, golden glow seeping out from beneath the doorjamb leading to the kitchen, and the sound of pans clanging together, and he hurries across the room as fast as his legs can carry him.

“‘Bout time,” Taako chides him as he pushes open the kitchen door. 

Angus barely has time to catch the apron that Taako throws his way before he can take in the counter that has been piled high with sacks of flour, sugar, eggs, and butter. There are little metal cookie cutters shaped like stars and snowmen, and half a dozen colors of icing fill a set of bowls next to which are arranged twice as many types of candy sprinkles.

“Are we making Candlenights cookies, sir?” Angus squeals as he tries to tie his apron in place with trembling fingers.

“You bet,” Taako replies, plopping a chef’s hat onto Angus’ head and chuckling when the brim slides down the kid’s forehead.

They bake for hours, one batch barely removed from the oven before another takes its place. When all the cookies have cooled, Taako helps him fill the icing bags and shows him how to pipe delicate little details onto each golden surface. When Angus drops one of the cookies and it splits in two on the flour-covered work surface, Taako merely shrugs and insists that they needed to taste-taste their work, anyway. They each take a piece, knocking them together like wine glasses, and stuff the crumbly confections into their mouths between giggles. 

When there are no more cookies to decorate and the dishes have been washed and everything returned to its place for the morning breakfast shift, Taako stands in the middle of the kitchen with his hands on his hips and declares the evening a success.

“You’re a natural chef, my dude,” he says, reaching over to tousle Angus’ flour-specked hair. “Any idea who you want to give these beauties to?”

“Oh, everyone,” Angus cries. “We sure made enough. It’ll be a Candlenights surprise!”

Taako grins, and if there’s an extra shine in his eyes that he has to wipe away on the corner of his apron when Angus isn’t looking… well, who can blame him?


End file.
